Yoko Minamino/ClariS -- Haikara-san ga Tooru（はいからさんが通る）

 

Last Friday night, as we usually do, we watched the latest episode of NHK information variety show "Chiko-chan", and found out that a franchise's original manga, the anime, the live-action movie and its theme song managed to revive a traditional form of clothing for graduating women.

Now, for some years, I'd known that the hakama was a popular but not mandatory special clothing that's worn by women during graduation ceremonies in Japan. But according to the "Chiko-chan" segment, it had been once worn as a regular school uniform a century ago during both the Meiji and Taisho eras but once World War II passed, the hakama disappeared from view for several decades.

But then, a manga titled "Haikara-san ga Tooru" (Haikara-San: Here Comes Miss Modern) by Waki Yamato（大和和紀）made its debut in 1975 followed by an anime in 1978. It detailed the romantic (and otherwise) adventures of high-flying, hakama-wearing Benio during the Taisho era.

In 1987, the live-action version starring aidoru Yoko Minamino（南野陽子）premiered at the end of the year, and during the "Chiko-san" segment, it was related that the rerun of the anime and then the popularity of the movie brought back the hakama to graduation ceremonies everywhere. It may have also changed Nanno's image as she had been one of the "Sukeban Deka" girls with her contemporary sailor suit high school uniform and deadly yo-yo.

Of course, the live-action movie had the aidoru also sing the theme song which had the same title of "Haikara-san ga Tooru". Sounding very late Showa era contemporary, its synth perkiness probably reflected Benio's personality herself. Written by Megumi Ogura（小倉めぐみ）, composed by Wataru Kuniyasu（国安わたる）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, Nanno's 10th single was released in December 1987 and was another No. 1 hit for her, finishing 1988 as the 19th-ranked single and selling 270,000 records. Along with its single status, "Haikara-san ga Tooru" was also included in the soundtrack for the movie. Not surprisingly, she appeared in that hakama on any music show performances which probably further boosted its comeback.

KKP contributor Joana Bernardo was the first to bring aidoru group ClariS to the blog with their cover of Wink's "Sabishii Nettaigyo"（淋しい熱帯魚）, and on that same special 2023 EP of the same name, the unit recorded their version of Nanno's hit. Cute video tribute to all of those music shows of the 1980s, too.

Sayuri Kokusho -- Hidari Te ga Kirai（左手がキライ）

 

Outside of an inclusion within my "Valentine's Choices" Author's Pick in 2019, I have to confess that the last time I wrote an article on the Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）aidoru Sayuri Kokusho（国生さゆり）was all the way back in the summer of 2015. And that was for a song, "Summer Blue", from her 1988 4th album, "Summer Snow".

"Summer Blue" was an aidoru tune that I thought was a cut above the usual Japanese teenybopper fare. I also think the same is true for this track which launches "Summer Snow", "Hidari Te ga Kirai" (I Hate the Left Hand). It's a really odd title for this song of romantic jealousy and impatience as a young lady is probably rapidly clacking her expensive heel while waiting for the target of her ardor to dump another lass and come to her. I tried to look for some different metaphorical meaning to hidari te outside of the literal meaning but I came up with bupkis.

Megumi Ogura（小倉めぐみ）, who has also written a lot for aidoru Yoko Minamino（南野陽子）, came up with the lyrics for "Hidari Te ga Kirai". But it's the basic melody by Keiichi Oku（奥慶一）of Spectrum（スペクトラム）fame as arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）that caught my ears. As the lone commenter thus far for the video has stated, I've never heard a song come off like this before. Beginning with some sparkly and jangly synths, despite the very green-eyed envy taking place in that stylish restaurant, it's undeniably Kokusho's cute-as-heck vocals but the surrounding music absorbs that champagne-and-caviar age of late 80s City Pop partially anchored by some very bluesy guitar and lightly seasoned with bossa. Plus, although I couldn't differentiate a G7 Major chord from a licorice cord, I can imagine that there are some insane levels of chord shifts and other manipulations happening that only a musician and a musicologist can pick out, and I am unfortunately neither.

"Hidari Te ga Kirai" is a fascinating song to be sure and the reason that my Vulcan ears pricked up here was that a friend of mine had sent me a link a few days ago to this amazing interview of former Megadeth guitarist and longtime Tokyo resident Marty Friedman by Rick Beato. When I read the opinion that Friedman feels that J-Pop is much more complex than current North American pop, I kinda went "What?!". Maybe this particular song by Kokusho isn't the finest example of what Friedman is claiming but I have to admit on reading the blurb and then listening to "Hidari Te ga Kirai", a light bulb did pop up over my head.

Yoko Minamino -- Aki kara mo, Soba ni Ite（秋からも、そばにいて）

There's been a certain piece of classical music that I've often heard in motion pictures since I was a boy. It was used at the very beginning of the original "Rollerball", the 1975 sci-fi film starring James Caan.

Then I heard a brief snippet of it whenever the character of Dr. Van Helsing popped up in "The Cannonball Run" to great comic effect (I remember laughing my guts out because of his appearance and the music). Dramatic or funny, Johann Sebastian Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" always heralded to me something quite sinister was afoot. Didn't even know the title of this iconic organ piece until today; just considered it "creepy organ song used in movies". This was the sort of music that a depraved but sophisticated villain would play in his monstrous mansion on a pipe organ the size of a two-story building.

So, it made me wonder why composer Tamaki Ito*（伊東玉城）would place a variation of "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" in the intro for 80s aidoru Yoko Minamino's（南野陽子）2nd-biggest hit and 13th single, "Aki kara mo, Soba ni Ite" (Stay with Me from the Fall) from October 1988. Well, obviously, the song was a great success but still I'm rather mystified.

In any case, "Aki kara mo, Soba ni Ite" then goes into a lovely jaunty melody with those strings that I've often associated with some of the aidoru tunes in the late 1980s. Again, I envision the aidoru in a huge billowing dress, this time being Nanno, in some European castle near a bluff making out like some princess pining for her Prince Charming. The lyrics by Megumi Ogura（小倉めぐみ）take things, though, back down to Earth as a high school girl finally gets the boy of her dreams in the autumn after a number of seasons admiring him from afar. Not going to let him get away easily.

The song was also used for a Glico commercial starring Nanno herself. With arrangement by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, "Aki kara mo, Soba ni Ite" was the 8th in her consecutive string of 8 No. 1 singles dating back to her 6th single "Rakuen no Door"（楽園のDoor）, and was 2nd to "Toiki de Net"（吐息でネット）in terms of records sold, selling a little over 270,000 copies. It eventually became the 30th-ranked single for 1988.

*Once again, I've come across a first name that I'm not sure about in terms of its reading since I couldn't find any verification online. I'm going with Tamaki here for now but once again, if any of you know the correct way to read it, then please let me know.

Yoko Minamino/Takao Kisugi -- Rakuen no Door （楽園のDoor）

Consider this a follow-up to JTM's epic article on the 80s teen heroine show, "Sukeban Deka"（スケバン刑事）. My fellow collaborator from Hawaii mentioned this song in his article and I just wanted to talk a bit more about it.

First thing is that I want to congratulate Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）who arranged "Rakuen no Door" (Door to Paradise) for aidoru Yoko Minamino（南野陽子）who not only sang the song but also starred in the movie version of "Sukeban Deka" as Yoko Godai, the titular juvenile delinquent-turned-crimefighter. Hagita managed to get the song to melodically describe the psyche of just about everyone who has gone through the Sukeban Deka programme: the low thrumming synths showing the uncertain rough-and-tough-and-unfair life while the sweeping strings which gradually come in represent the regular feminine life that the girls most likely yearn for.

Megumi Ogura（小倉めぐみ）was responsible for the lyrics which also related not only the girls' sad from-the-outside-looking-in situation but also the hope that slowly but surely the day is coming when they will be passing through that door to paradise. As for Nanno, she sings "Rakuen no Door" in a way that reminded me of another sailor-suit-sporting girl with a weapon, Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）.

Released in January 1987, this was the aidoru's 6th single. It became the first of her 8 straight No. 1s in the late 80s and the song eventually became the 14th-ranked entry of the year.

(at about 5:00)

The man who originally composed the song, Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）, gave his own distinctive spin on "Rakuen no Door" when he covered it for his 13th album, "Étranger" which came out in November 1987. His version wasn't City Pop but the arrangement by Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）transformed the saga of the bad girl-gone-good into a metropolitan sophisti-pop soother as if the heroine here were more of a countryside girl on the cusp of making it big in the even bigger city. The song sounded perfect for crooner Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）but Kisugi did just as well. Rather difficult to decide which version I like better.